In the new normal world, ESCP and L’Oréal presented a new edition of Innovation Factory online
Innovation Factory is …
► A red-letter day on the L’Oréal Professorship in Creativity Marketing calendar.
► A great opportunity for students to find out about L’Oréal and the innovation- and tech-related career opportunities it offers.
► An excellent way to discover what cutting edge technology and strategies a world-leading consumer goods company is rolling out as it continues to redefine itself as a beauty tech powerhouse.
► A highly interactive event with lots of opportunities to ask questions and network with L’Oréal managers and executives, including HR.
► A full day of workshops led by L’Oréal managers and executives on topics such as tech innovation, digital services, e-commerce, data strategy, gamification, gaming, sustainability and more.
A tailor-made programme embracing a wide range of digital issues
#theinnovationfactory2021 journey started with a brilliant and informative one-hour Masterclass entitled “L’Oréal, a Beauty Tech Company” by Stephane Lannuzel – L'Oréal BeautyTech Programme Director, who painted a comprehensive portrait of the company.
He pointed out how L’Oréal has become nimbler and more agile, and how Tech is a booster of creativity. “The future of Tech will be at the crossroads of science and Tech.”
Inclusive beauty is one of the major challenges. New consumer experiences, listening to consumers’ voices, sustainability, and the circular economy are just some of the issues that Tech can help to address. “Tech is a force for good and for shaping a better world for the planet, consumers and employees”.
The impact of COVID-19 was naturally discussed. Stephane Lannuzel explained that “COVID has not really created anything new, but it has accelerated things… There has been a massive surge in the development of apps, e-commerce, augmented reality and IA. Social commerce is the other really striking thing.”
Four 1-hour seminars were then scheduled, providing many enriching learning opportunities presented by senior managers – including ESCP Alumni – in e-commerce, tech solutions, precision marketing, social influence, brand management, research and innovation, and more.Professor Marie Taillard, Associate Dean for Executive Education (UK) and L’Oréal Professor of Creativity Marketing expressed her heartfelt thanks to the succession of L’Oréal experts who gave our students an outstanding opportunity to immerse themselves in a world of innovation and creativity:
"Open Innovation & Digital Services Factory" - Simon Guillemet - Senior Mobile Project Manager and Julie Raiola-Murray - Digital Product Manager, Open Innovation Team
"Digital Beauty and the Beauty Tech Revolution" - Benjamin Askenazi, Team Manager for Research & Innovation
"E-Commerce at L'Oréal" - Luka Brekalo, Global E-Commerce Lead and Alumnus MMK ESCP
"Innovation & Sustainability: The Product Impact Labelling System" - Louis Baffet, Country Opener & Asset Manager
"Data - From Collection to Activation" - Selim Decoufled, CRM Manager and Estelle Ngo, Global Head of Precision Advertising
"This year's edition of Innovation Factory has been our most exciting yet. Over 500 students from across our campuses and from all programs engaged with L'Oréal managers throughout the day. They explored topics ranging from Beauty Tech and supply chain innovation to e-commerce, sustainability, data science and creativity. Students got a first-hand perspective on what a career at L'Oréal can look like, and were given valuable guidance on how best to navigate the recruitment process. The success of this year's edition reflects the success of our partnership with L'Oréal. It reaffirms our commitment to offer students more opportunities to engage in rich conversations with managers and leaders who inspire them and help them discover their passion and draw their future career paths. Thank you to our L'Oréal partners for making this possible and so successful!" says Prof. Marie Taillard.
An event that built bridges between L’Oréal and students
For Stéphanie Messner, Talent Acquisition Director – L’Oréal France, ”Innovation Factory gives us a unique opportunity to spend quality time and forge connections with students who want to find out more about careers at L’Oréal. It is the ideal environment for in-depth conversations about where people can fit in, and to help potential candidates gain an insight into the group."
Students took the opportunity to sign up for:
- a "Meet our recruiters" session at a virtual lunch in order to discuss careers prospects at L'Oréal with Talent Acquisition Managers: Stéphanie Messner, Audrey Meznarie, Abdilah Merzoug and Margaux Velty. Career paths, internships, the graduate programme, apprenticeships, L’Oréal’s culture and values, CV dos and don’ts… extensive information was provided to give students a flavour of what working at L’Oréal is really like.
- 7 one-to-one sessions, held at the end of the day with a specific focus on Marketing, Communication, Digital and Finance.
L’Oréal has always been an aspirational brand to observe and learn from
Exclusive, in-depth insights, food for thought, invaluable opportunities to interact with L’Oréal managers, upskilling sessions… students explored many issues and learned valuable lessons in the field of marketing and beyond, gaining an insider’s view of the company. All the sessions were designed to enable students to implement what they had learned in their everyday professional lives.
Students came away feeling that this was a highly valuable and inspirational event, as illustrated by the following feedback:
“Thanks to this event, I get to know the whole L'Oréal world more deeply from the most recent product innovations and distribution channels up to the various career opportunities offered by the company!”(Vittoria Schulte Bulmke, MiM student)
“It was a great opportunity to get to know more around innovation and tech, and more specifically discovering what cutting-edge technologies and strategies a global consumer goods business is utilizing to reposition itself as a beauty tech powerhouse” (Margaux Lautier, MiM student)
“The L'Oréal Innovation Factory x ESCP Business School event last Friday was a unique opportunity to get insights into the complex mechanism of what being a #BeautyTech pioneer entails. It offered a peek into the minds of the business leaders at L'Oréal driving innovation and how they integrate the latest in #artificialintelligence, #machinelearning, #datascience, #virtualreality, #eCommerce, etc. to shape the future of beauty with innovative phygital products and connected consumer experiences.” (Jay Mohan Kaul, MBA student)
“Thanks for taking the initiative and organising this great informative session for us. I got an opportunity to attend Luka Brekalo’s session on E-Commerce at L'Oréal. It is a great challenge to understand a huge scale organisation like L'Oréal, which is tackling challenges like sustainability and digital transformation at a high pace. The session proved informative for me, as it covered various aspects of Supply Chain uncovering different steps of the process. It explained in detail the disruption L’Oreal is causing with its expertise in the market.” (Aakanksha, MMK student)
Melissa Guei, MMK student, spent also a great time attending L'orealxInnovation Factory overall. Her favorite moment was Luka Brekalo’s session, giving an insightful overview of how e-commerce is evolving at L’Oréal and the pillars this success is built on. “I even saved the slide explaining how events and festivals fuel this growth. He mentioned the first step is to listen to shoppers to create events that work. While it can sound obvious, it reminds how it is all about the customers and it is good to see a company as big as Loreal keeps that in mind.”
By sharing their experiences and career paths at L’Oréal with students, the speakers helped students understand how L'Oréal’s agile structure supports not only innovation but also the growth of its talents…
An eye-opening experience… as Luca Roncalli, MiM student, reported: “L’Oréal Innovation Factory has been an incredible opportunity to get to know hidden and super-interesting parts of the company. I particularly enjoyed the wide variety of experiences that were proposed and the super detailed description of each area. I must say, that if I was sure in which area I wanted to work before this initiative, now I am very tempted to change and explore different ones! The conference about Beauty Tech Revolution was incredibly inspiring. Innovative products like YSL Rouge Sur Mesure are the future for a truly inclusive and customer-centred beauty world. I cannot wait to participate in other L’Oréal events!"
This fourth edition is sure to stimulate new career interests among ESCP students!
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